Quick Facts
LeoBiography
John William King (born 9 August 1932) is an English former footballer who played in the Football League for Cardiff City, Crewe Alexandra and Stoke City.
King began his career with his local side Crewe Alexandra in 1950. He formed a good partnership with Frank Blunstone and the pair were highly wanted by other clubs. King joined Stoke City for £8,000 and soon began to show his worth. He spent eight seasons at the Victoria Ground making 311 appearances scoring 113 goals to become one of the club's greatest goalscorers. He later played for Cardiff City and made a return to his home town team, Crewe Alexandra.
Career
King was regarded as a natural goalscorer and despite his rather 'chunky' build was a fast runner. He started his career at his local side Crewe Alexandra, where he partnered Frank Blunstone who was later capped by England. When Blunstone left for Chelsea King decided to join Stoke City who were at the time in the Second Division. He immediately began to score goals and quickly became a firm fan favourite. He was a regular goalscorer season after season at Stoke and became one a few Stoke players to have score over one hundred League goals.
A natural left footer King was a very skilful player and at 5 ft 7in he was not the typical Forward of the 1950s but there was no question about his ability to lead the forward line. A regular scorer, he topped the scorer charts at Stoke in three seasons amassing 113 goals for the club in all competitions placing him as Stoke's fifth all-time top goalscorer.
He later joined Cardiff City and returned to Crewe Alexandra where he helped win promotion in 1963. After retirement from football King went on play tennis and almost qualified for the Wimbledon Championships in 1970.
Career statistics
Source:
| Club | Season | League | FA Cup | League Cup | Total | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Division | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | ||
| Crewe Alexandra | 1950–51 | Third Division North | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | – | 1 | 0 | |
| 1951–52 | Third Division North | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | – | 2 | 0 | ||
| 1952–53 | Third Division North | 40 | 17 | 1 | 0 | – | 41 | 17 | ||
| 1953–54 | Third Division North | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | – | 5 | 0 | ||
| Total | 48 | 17 | 1 | 0 | – | 49 | 17 | |||
| Stoke City | 1953–54 | Second Division | 24 | 11 | 3 | 1 | – | 27 | 12 | |
| 1954–55 | Second Division | 36 | 17 | 6 | 3 | – | 42 | 20 | ||
| 1955–56 | Second Division | 36 | 16 | 5 | 2 | – | 41 | 18 | ||
| 1956–57 | Second Division | 34 | 9 | 1 | 0 | – | 35 | 9 | ||
| 1957–58 | Second Division | 38 | 15 | 3 | 0 | – | 41 | 15 | ||
| 1958–59 | Second Division | 33 | 13 | 0 | 0 | – | 33 | 13 | ||
| 1959–60 | Second Division | 42 | 13 | 2 | 0 | – | 44 | 13 | ||
| 1960–61 | Second Division | 41 | 12 | 6 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 48 | 13 | |
| Total | 284 | 106 | 26 | 7 | 1 | 0 | 311 | 113 | ||
| Cardiff City | 1961–62 | First Division | 33 | 6 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 2 | 38 | 8 |
| Crewe Alexandra | 1962–63 | Fourth Division | 46 | 17 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 50 | 17 |
| 1963–64 | Third Division | 41 | 9 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 44 | 9 | |
| 1964–65 | Fourth Division | 42 | 10 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 43 | 10 | |
| 1965–66 | Fourth Division | 40 | 8 | 4 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 47 | 10 | |
| 1966–67 | Fourth Division | 8 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 9 | 1 | |
| Total | 177 | 45 | 9 | 1 | 7 | 1 | 193 | 47 | ||
| Career Total | 542 | 174 | 37 | 8 | 12 | 3 | 591 | 185 | ||